Health care costs, including costs related to long-term care, can easily get rather high. Thus, it is unsurprising that medical costs can be a big source of anxiety. A recent survey indicates that health care expenses are something that many wealthy individuals worry about.
The survey was done by Morgan Stanley. Its respondents were individuals from the New York area who are classified as high-net-worth investors. In the survey, the respondents were asked what things they were concerned about.
A vast majority of the respondents included health care expenses among the things they said concerned them. Specifically, 94 percent of them did.
Furthermore, it was not uncommon for health care costs to be listed as the No. 1 issue of concern by the respondents, particularly the women respondents. Of the female respondents to the survey, 58 percent stated that their top concern was health care expenses. Of the male respondents, 39 percent gave health care costs the top spot when it came to things they were concerned about.
Now, worries about health care costs are not exclusive to the wealthy. Individuals from all different sorts of income backgrounds may be concerned about how current and future medical costs could impact their financial future and the financial future of their family.
One thing seniors might have a great deal of worry about when it comes to long-term care expenses and other health care costs is how these costs might impact what sort of financial legacy and assets they will ultimately be able to leave to their family and loved ones. Thankfully, this concern is not one elderly individuals simply have to leave unaddressed. Planning for how to deal with future health care costs is something seniors can do within their estate planning. What sorts of long-term care planning mechanisms, such as trusts, would be most appropriate for a given senior heavily depends on their individual circumstances. Attorneys can help elderly individuals here in Massachusetts with reviewing what long-term care planning options they have when it comes to their estate plan and with figuring out what kind of long-term care planning would be best-suited for them.
Source: NJBIZ, “Wealthy’s No. 1 concern: Health care costs, survey finds,” Anjalee Khemlani, Sept. 9, 2015